Lights, Camera, Action!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I come from a creative family. My mother is an artist, my dad makes incredibly detailed models and miniatures, my sister Barb is a professional face painter, my brother Patrick a gourmet cook, and you know what I do.  The younger generation is getting into the act: all of my children write, Barb's two youngest boys dance and act, respectively, and as for Patrick's son Robbie...well, he's three. He's showing signs of promise on the inflatable guitar, though!

To get back to the actor: my nephew Xavier Wolf isn't doing the middle school drama club. He's a professional member of the Screen Actors Guild who's appeared in ads, TV shows like Evil Kin and Veep, and movies such as Argo and Captain America Winter Soldier. Xavi's just like other boys his age - he's into Star Wars and video games, plays basketball and goes to Scout camp - except that several times a week he and his mom take the train to NYC for auditions and casting calls.

His most recent project may be (fingers crossed) his biggest role yet. He was tapped for a potential series called Holiday Shelter, a "dramady" about a widow with two teens opening her house to a homeless woman and her two young kids. The production company, Roughest Crew Pictures, pitched the series to Hulu, which gave them the green light for a pilot episode.



Dissolve screen to White Plains and Mount Vernon, NY, where Xavier, his mom, the cast and crew decamped to shot the pilot over a week's time. (You're thinking, what about school? Not to worry. In addition to an on-set tutor, Barb is home-schooling Xavi this year.)

Their days started early; Xavi had a 6am call which meant getting up at 5:15 every morning, which, knowing my sister, was a lot easier for him than for her. He was cast as the homeless woman (Jenn Gotzen)'s son, and I understand his seriously pitiable looks (mastered while trying to stretch out his bedtime) had star Alicia Minshew (All My Children) near tears.The fact they were filming outside in January certainly helped him connect to the unpleasantness of living in a car. (Brrr!)

Meanwhile, Barb, who is one of those amazing women who anticipates everything, got the nickname "Set Mom" for her endless stashes of band-aids and hand warmers, her willingness to pitch in with set dressing and - on one occasion - driving the cast and crew to the set in her minivan when the crew transport was stuck in traffic. I'm hoping she gets some sort of credit for actually cooking pancakes and bacon for the big breakfast scene! It turns out that TV, at least at the pilot stage, is a lot more like "let's all rent a barn and put on a show" than one might imagine.


Despite the 6am-to-8pm days of shooting, Barb says they had a lot of fun. Many of the cast and crew were housed at the same inn, which gave the evenings a bit of a group-on-a-holiday feel. The young actors and the grownups alike played board games and card games, and Xavi, who is the most outgoing kid you can imagine, would play with the other youngsters or listen to the crew explain their equipment between takes.



So what happens next? The film is in editing, and within the next couple of months, will be screened for the folks at Hulu. If it's a thumbs down (noooo!) Xavier will have gotten a great experience with seasoned professionals - and have a TV pilot to add to his demo reel. If the programming people like it, woo hoo! It'll go into production as an Hulu original series, and I'll get to stream my nephew any time I want to see him.




So, dear Readers, what do you like to see in a series? Do you stream, or broadcast? And if you have questions about what it's like to be a part of making television, my sister Barb will be popping in on the back blog to give you some answers.